R O T H A R . C O M

University is known for many things, but educating the next generation of bike mechanics isn’t unfortunately one of them. Which might explain why the hero in this tale appears to be riding a bike with the forks fitted the wrong way round. Not the first time I’ve seen it in Manchester either…

Headed over to north Wales and went riding with Neil and Lardy and some other guys they know from riding in the Alps over the last few years. They picked two top routes (Saturday and Sunday) out of their collection of amazing local riding spots and led us out into the bleak wilderness.

Well it wasn’t all bleak, lashing rain, mist, cold and getting wet, but it was most of the time. It meant that you didn’t want to stop pedalling for a second and just wanted to get around as soon as possible so that you could either generate some body heat or get to somewhere that was warm dry and sheltered. It was ace. More photos here.

At the moment there is a case going through the courts where Russ Pinder is taking a legal action against Fox Racing Shox. The story behind Russ’ situation is sad and dates back to a time shortly after this website was launched in 2003. I think many of people on the UK mountain biking scene know him or feel like we know him through various conversations, fundraising events and heartbreaking stories over the last couple of years. I wouldn’t wish his injuries on anyone, even if they are a total swine.

As I see it this is a test case. It’s logical for Russ to pursue Fox as he was riding their forks at the time of the crash. The other factors in the case might be considered consistent in terms of the disc brake – it wouldn’t have mattered what brand he was using for example – the effect described by Annan would have been the same, although the forces would have varied depending on the size of the disc rotor being used.

The other factor that isn’t certain is the QR being used. There has been a lot of experimentation (although this has been real world rather than in labs as far as I can tell) and discussion to try and ascertain if this is a sizable contributing factor. The only results I have seen from this indicate that certain expensive CNC machined QRs at the time were of inferior design and function in comparison to the high leverage cams in Mavic and Shimano QRs.

On the subject of QRs I think it’s been taken as fact by those in the know (i.e those in the trade and those who actually read mountain biking literature rather than just look at pictures and listen to gossip) that using anything other than a steel axle for a QR used in a suspension fork and disc brake setup has been a stupid idea since the late 1990s. Using Titanium QR axles in this application is asking for trouble*.

The other interesting thing is that since Russ’ case and Annan’s theory getting more press, manufacturers have in many cases reviewed their designs. Fox are one of them and I think this fact may have some bearing on the case. It’s almost like an admission that they’d done a bad design in the first place. If this case leads to other manufacturers being forced to change then I think this is a good thing.

I also suspect that this case may have been a contributory factor in the design of improved bolt-through systems – particularly the lighter weight QR15 standard. This is as far as I am concerned the single biggest step forward in fork design since the original QR20 standard because it brings a no-brainer sensible design to the lighter weight fork market. I’m surprised that it has been led by Fox, rather than a company with more of a motorbike heritage like Marzocchi, but then I suspect the latter’s MTB design division is now so far removed from the Motorbike division they may not be talking to one another.

So although no one may be a winner in this, if it leads to DT, RockShox, Manitou and others to follow Fox in a sensible dropout design, be it slotted or bolt through then this is a good thing. If this is through choice or because of revised legal precedents in some of their international markets then does that really matter either? I’d argue it doesn’t because at the end of the day we as consumers will end up with a better and arguably safer product design.

Although the press may in some cases be keeping quiet on this, if at the end of it all the major mountain bike magazines run some coverage of the case, then it may make people running forks that feature vertical dropouts and in some cases no lawyer lips (either rigid or suspension) with disk brakes to consider whether this is a good idea. It might also make some smaller manufacturers think about what they’re supplying to customers paying thousands for custom built designs.

And whilst we’re on this topic it probably isn’t a good idea to use any form of roof rack that clamps the fork drop outs to the rack either. The loading stresses this invokes probably doesn’t met the general riding use the fork was designed for. Still that’s a different can of worms…

* Given the amount of Titanium components** I’ve snapped over the last 20 years makes me think that using Ti is generally asking for trouble.

** Although thankfully not frames – if my IF breaks I’ll be very sad, but happy to know they’ll repair it under warranty.

So the other day I stripped the commuter down to replace the bottom bracket. With it’s newly rebuild pedals it’s singlespeed drivetrain should be running silky smooth and quietly. Except it’s not. It’s still squeaking and creaking like an old garden gate.

So I’m thinking it’s time to replace the drivetrain and see if some setup that makes less noise can’t be found. Plus the fact that given the spikes on some of the chaining teeth, it’s going to be a case of fix it or end up introducing the crown jewels to the stem when the chain breaks. As I fancy having kids one day, I’m thinking it’s better to do that sooner rather than later…

When I was reading The Ride (which is an amazing piece of production) a few nights ago, it turns out dR j0n was here in Manchester at Uni. I never knew that, but it seems to have been a long time ago. He’s north of the border now, but his experiments with bikes are always worth following…

So Lance retired (briefly). When he left the sport he said he wanted to try something else. He seems to have done some marathon running and mountain biking, but found them both a bit hard (i.e. didn’t win). Perhaps he then thought, ‘sod it, I’m bored’ and decided to go back to road racing. Alternatively maybe several major sponsors saw a dive in their profits following a drop in sales of products previous endorsed by Herr Armstrong and waved cheques with an increasing number of zeroes at Lance until he could be persuaded to come back from retirement.

There can be little doubt that Armstrong’s return to the sport will boost publicity for the sport and if it gets some more people riding bikes as a result it can be no bad thing. Other riders in the pro peloton, don’t necessarily look forward to his return, probably in much the same way that Formula 1 drivers would be pretty miffed if Schumacher came out of retirement. Both were at the top of their game when they retired. Sure they might have peaked, but the fear will always be that they are so both supremely talented in their respective disciplines that the current batch of competitors would be right to be concerned about them coming back and stealing victories that might otherwise have gone to younger folk.

It’s going to be an interesting year for sure.

Yesterday was the first ride home of the year with lights. Last night I decided that the commuter (aka the bike that tried to kill me) needed to be resurrected so swapped some pedals over to it from the cross bike (I will need to drill the locknut off the remnant of the spindle to reuse the old pedal body – the lovely people at 2pure have sent some replacement spindles) and fixed the double snakebite in the rear wheel with a new tube. Dug out the winter lights and mounted them on the frame and pretty much ready to go.

Of course this morning as I actually ride it I remember all the little irritating things that need to be done and I’d forgotten about, like the worn out bottom bracket whih means the left leg’s turning a bigger circle that the right leg, which is irritatingly noticeable on the downstroke. The other is the fact that in the crash I managed to twist the seatpost, so now the saddle’s not pointing straight. Still the bike feels properly fast and I buzz along.

All goes fine until the bends of fury where there is another case of piss poor lane discipline when a woman in a Black Golf FSI tries to put me into the kerb. I hold my ground and despite being along side her peering into the window to try and get her attention she nor her passenger see me. As we wait at the lights so I give a polite knock on the window to remind her that I’m there. Shortly after that as I follow the traffic, matching the speed of the cars in front, I’m hooted at from behind.

I’m not sure what the person behind me expected me to do, possibly move to the side so that they could over take. I saw no point doing that because I was going as fast as everything else and I’m not going to be made to eat the kerb again… so I just reached around and gave the old two finger salute. This prompted more hoot-a-tooting and as we rounded the next bend and the road widened into two lanes on the one way street I pulled out, eased off and came along side the car.

The driver of what turned out to be a silver Astra gave me the evils, so I shook my fist at him in a menacing manner and ranted, at some volume in my best Ray Winstone Cockney accent: “You f***** c***! What’s your f****** problem? Stop your f****** car and I’ll bloody ‘ave you, you c***!” Which didn’t really help placate the situation, rather it seemed to piss him off even more leading to much engine revving and a woefully poor attempt to cut me up. His spineless “You little…” comment as he drove off didn’t really seem to carry much weight.

I accept that there’s two sides to all such things, but when you’re all worked up from what’s effectively a sprint to work, dickhead motorists are never likely to be on the receiving end of a carefully crafted and eloquent critique of their driving skills…

Update:

Just thought I should add a few comments to say that this is all very out of character, I usually go months without any problems, but recently there does seem to have been a spate of people driving to kill me. I have to write up stuff like this or I’d forget about it!  The most annoying thing is that certain people seem to think that because they’re in a car and I’m on a bike they should have more right of way than me…

This is a theory that won’t get much truck from me. I don’t go looking for trouble, but I will hold my position in traffic because I don’t want to end up eating the kerb or getting stuck under a lorry (lost a friend that way). If the traffic around me is moving faster than me then I will pull to the side and let it pass, but if I am traveling at the same speed I will ride in the centre of the lane so: no idiot can cut me up (been there too many times); I am more visible; and have more room for manoeuvre.

Yesterday I went to London and during the rush hour walked from Knightsbridge to Westminister past Buckingham Palace. It was a nice evening and I think it’s sad to go to such a spectacular city and then miss most of the architecture by buzzing around everywhere underground. One thing struck me – there are a lot more normal looking people commuting on bikes in London than in Manchester. There’s an article in issue one of the Ride Journal by a dutch writer all about this.

What I mean by that is that here, most commuters seem to be pretty well geared up for the job in terms of cycling specific clothing whereas is London most people I say yesterday just seemed to have literally left their office, hopped on their bike and started to ride home. No lycra, no fluoro yellow safety jackets and in a lot of cases not even a lid. Thought that was an interesting comparison, most exciting thing I saw was a guy on a street-setup mountain bike win the sprint across a junction as the lights changed doing a fully crossed up wheelie. Very cool.

I’m also reminded that public transport when it wants to be can be utterly crap. My train from Bedford to London took about 40 minutes on the way in, but the same journey on the way back took double the time and was mostly spent with a guy who kept asking me if it was the slow train (bloody well feels like it) when he wasn’t drinking Stella, on the phone to his girlfriend, mum, mates or coke dealer – do you have powder? What about rock? Nah, powder is fine. I’m just going to get a taxi, be there in 20 minutes….

Why was the Victoria line closed so I missed the last fast train of the night? I like driving at night, but not when there’s road works every 5 miles with “Workforce in Road” and 40mph restrictions. That’s when the road was open and not diverted via the arse end of nowhere. Getting back to Manchester at 3.45am this morning wasn’t any fun at all.

Today was gloomy. The sun never really broke through the cloud and it just wasn’t very nice out there at all. Didn’t rain, wasn’t that cold, just windy and dark all day. Fitted a rear light today, but decided it needs new batteries as it’s not that bright. Didn’t hinder me from haveing a belter of a ride home tonight though. I managed to get a tow off a bus 75% of the way home and miraculously there wasn’t any traffic to hold things up. And no, it wasn’t a Magic Bus…

Spirits were lifted somewhat by the arrival of a copy of The Ride. I’ll admit it’s joined the pile of magazines that’s slowly building up in the ‘to be read’ pile, but I reckon it’ll be the first one I pick up. Seriously nice work and lovely paper and printing.

It’s been four years since some of the world’s best riders gathered, armed themselves with big rig bikes, custom tuned shocks, snorted Red Bull and through caution to the wind and then rode off some great big cliffs, cleared improbable gap jumps and crashed and burned. Recently the event, that brought them together, Red Bull’s Rampage, has returned.

It’s still an invite-only freeride comp for men and despite much hoo-ha about a global quest to find a new venue, it’s perhaps a little ironic that they’ve just moved it a little bit from the original location near Virgin, Utah. The setting is stunning with the Landscapes of the Zion National Park forming the backdrop. Quite how the legal implications that have let the event to be mothballed (due to the increasing risk competitors were taking) for the last few years have been overcome isn’t clear.

The event held at the beginning of October certainly wasn’t without incident with some big names, either playing safe or not quite getting it right and breaking themselves and bikes. The result was perhaps unexpected, but the victory deservedly went to the best rider on the day. Photos from Dan, and more on the event over at BikeMagic.

Just tried catching up with what a few friends have been up to and it look’s like they’re having a time out from being online. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to have a break every now and then…